Judge rules communities can capture Detroit Zoo, DIA millage dollars

Jun. 14, 2013

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

The Detroit Zoo / Brian Kaufman/Detroit Free Press

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The Detroit Institute of Arts and the Detroit Zoo lost a round in court this week when a judge ruled that local communities can capture part of their revenue for things like fancy streetlights, decorative pavers and other improvements in their downtown districts.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Daniel Ryan ruled Wednesday that the communities were within their rights when they took the money under laws designed to spur development in specific areas.

Ryan ruled for the cities after finding that the special districts in the communities “were legislatively authorized and did not wrongfully capture the millages levied by the Zoo and Art authorities.”

The Free Press first reported in January that communities such as Grosse Pointe, Dearborn, Taylor and Van Buren Township have diverted a fraction of zoo-tax revenues into their downtown development, brownfield and other special districts.